Computer application programs may be written in any number of computer programming languages, such as for example, the Java programming language. A computer application program written in the Java programming language may be referred to as a Java application. A Java application may be formed from a set of pieces of computer code called classes. Each class may be part of a package, containing multiple classes. A Java Virtual Machine (JVM) may run on a host machine as part of the Java application in order to execute the instructions of the Java application. When the Java application is started (e.g., in response to a command from a user), the JVM may identify a list of classes used by the Java application. The list of classes may be found as part of one or more Java class files in the Java application. A class loader in the JVM may access a classpath (i.e., a runtime list of classes and libraries (called “JAR files”)) to determine a location of the classes used by the Java application. This process may be referred to as “classloading.”
In certain cases, the location of a class specified in the classpath may be incorrect, causing the classloading to fail. In current systems, when classloading fails, the JVM reports an error by throwing the ClassNotFoundException. When this error occurs, the application is usually terminated as it cannot function properly without the missing class or classes. Seeing a ClassNotFoundException is usually a sign of a poorly configured classpath, but it is undesirable and can take a significant amount of time to correct.